War’s hardship ends with glory
THE 1940s were quite simply defined by the war. The first half of the decade saw Britain up to its neck in an at times desperate struggle with Nazi Germany.
When victory was finally achieved in 1945, the country was bloodied and exhausted.
The second half of the decade – and indeed way beyond – saw Britain embark on the long, difficult road towards some sort of recovery.
But it would be in a very different world to the one that existed before the six-year conflict. The Second World War changed everything.
On the home front, between 1939 and 1945, with husbands, sons and fathers away fighting a powerful enemy, deadly air raids by German bombers, and day-to-day hardship, it was a desperate time.
The early 1940s saw towns and cities in the North East feel the full force of Hitler’s bombers.
Much damage was inflicted as the Germans tried to hamper the region’s significant industrial contribution to the war effort – and when the bombs missed the shipyards or factories, they would sometimes hit houses. Hundreds of civilians were killed.
Newspaper reports at the time were usually circumspect about precise details or locations of air raids. The Chronicle, for example, would simply report that “a North East town” had been bombed.
Clearly, we didn’t want to give too much information to the enemy, or damage morale.
At home, Britons were asked to bathe in no more than five inches of water and exist on subsistence rations, but the pubs and cinemas stayed open and folk got on with daily life the best they could.
Meanwhile, war raged in Europe, the Far East and in Northern Africa on land, sea and in the air.
But with America entering the fray in 1941, the hand of the Allies was strengthened. The RAF’S brilliant and audacious “Dambusters” squadron scored a major success in 1943 before, in 1944, the tide slowly began to turn.
The momentous D-day landings marked the beginning of the Allies’ final encirclement of Hitler.
The enemy was still dangerous, however. As new rockets pounded London, though the North East was out of range of the deadly weapons.
The Newcastle Home Guard were stood down in December 1944 and it seemed that danger on the home front was subsiding.
After five years of hell, 1945 would bring salvation. The war was won, but the peace would also bring its own challenges, with rationing and austerity lasting well into the 1950s.
The post-war, nuclear world was very different to the one which existed before 1939. Britain was no longer a major global force, and the two mighty opposing superpowers, the USA and the USSR, would descend into a new ‘Cold War’.
Meanwhile, at home, Clement Attlee’s new Labour government introduced the NHS and ‘welfare state’ which did much to improve the day-to-day life of many Britons.
As the end of the 1940s approached, absolute poverty had almost disappeared from Britain, and unemployment was low.
Things were slowly on the mend. What would the new decade bring?
Our 10 photographs recall some of what was happening in Newcastle during the 1940s.